Cable&amp;niasts. The panic on the New York Stock , Exchange continued on Thursday,, when sharp fails took place, and 2,500,000 shares wore sold. Similar experiences took place tin the Boston, 'Philadelphia, and other' stock exchanges. In order to allay the panic, Mr. Cortelyou, secretary of the Treasury, has placed 71,000,000 dollars at tho disposal of ihe New York banks. Railway magnates accuse President Roosevelt of encouraging the State Legislatures to pass measures amount ing to confiscation. ' Storms of unprecedented violence have occurred in Ohio, Virginia, and Kentucky, great damage being done. Fourteen deaths are reported. Business at Pittsburg has been paralysed by floods, aud 100,000 persons have been temporarily thrown out of work. At the trial of Harry Thaw for the murder of Stanford White, Abe Hummel, the notorious lawyer, said Mrs. Thaw told him. it was untrue that White had drugged and ruined her. Fifty bodies have been found piled up in one passage on the ill-fa...

THE WIDE WORLD. I Patrick Keegan, the man who, while driving a waggon across the tram 'track ' in Fletcher street, Essendon, last even- j lng, was run into by an electric tram ! car and seriously Injured, died in Dr | Martell's private hospital at Moonee f-onas at nve o ciock cms morning, j Senior-Constable Gorman, in charge of the North Essendon police, has commu nicated with the District Coroner (Dr R. Cole), and an inquest will be held, I probably to-morrow. The deceased was ' about forty years of age, and resided at the Royal Saxon Hotel, Elizabeth street, Melbourne. Apropos of the recently mentioned Shakespearian associations of Bel voir and the 217th anniversary of Thomas Hobbes's death, it is worth noticing that many English historic mansions are pro minently connected with the lives and works of the British classics.. The au thor of 'Leviathan' himself acted both es librarian- and private tutor at Chats ? teenth-century editor, Sir William Moles worth, at Pencarrow, Jeremey ...

General News A bush fire has been raging at Gundagai, in the hills about Bon gongo, doing considerable damage to fences and grass. As no rain has fallen for a considerable time the outlook is serious. There is much disgnst and adverse criticism at Wentwortli Falls on the action of the department in placing such exorbitant upset prices on busi ness sites to be submitted to auction there on tho 30tli inst.' On one allot ment, near the station, the upset price pans out at £1150 per acre. At Muilgee, a Syrian named Alfred Barry lias been committed for trial foi assaulting Charles Egan, by hit ting him on the head with a whip handle, causing him to be confined in Mudgee hospital for five weeks. The Council clerk at Ashfield lias' levanted, and a warrant has been issued tor his arrest /for embezzle ment. Tho defalcations, which havo been traced as far back as 1903, are said to amount to a-considerable sum. He had been in the employ of the council for 25 years, Thus Mr. W. A. IIol man : 'L...

FIREMAN'S EXPERIENCE. FALL FROM EXPRESS TP.AIN. j A lomarkablo experience happened to the Hrvman ot the up Great Western Company's mall train from MilCord Ha ven to Paddington, which arrived at Cardiff on Christmas night. As the train was running?' at full speid towards Kidwelly, Carmarthenshire, the fireman fell from the footplate. The engine-driver did not at first miss hi 3 comrade, as his attention was fixed on the Kidwelly lights in the distance. When ho found the fireman gone, lie pulled up at Kidwelly station and re ported the accident. A party then proceeded down the line l'- search for the fireman. They met him walking back, with the assistance of a postman named Fisher, who had found him lying on the metals. His head, right arm and. hip were in jured, and ho was so -l:ined that he could give but little account of tils ex perience. Railway officials (regard his escape from death as nearly Cjniraculous. —'Daily Express.' \ Not To De Hail — 'You're a niiin \fter my heart.!' '...

South Coast Items. Gcrringong has had 768 points of rain since the first of January, aud that part of the South Coast now assumes a beautiful aspect. While attaching the traces to a plough, Master Norman Dawes, of Albion Park, had his fingor so badly, crushed, through the horses starting, ? as to necessitate amputatien. Miss Katie Thompson, yonngest - daughter of the late Mr. John Thompson, of Kiama, was married at , Dapto to Mr. William H. Tate, of Jamberoo. Mr. D. W. Pearson and family, of Milton, have taken their departure from that placo for Queensland, where Mr. Pearson has taken a large farm on the halves. Mr. C. Parbery's cow, winner of the home milking contest in connection with the Bega Show, gave 521hs of ? milk for 24 hours, equal to 16ylbs of butter for a week. Work at the Government quarry on tho river above Nowra lias been resumed. Stone is now being got out for the further improvement of tho channel at. the Canal and Crook haven River, Three Albion Park farmers sent a...

BOUND FOR AUSTRALIA, A YOUTH WITH NOTIONS. 'Thorold Dalrymple,' the pen-name of a former Melbourne pressman, writes in the 'British Australasian' of 20tli December: — * He is now on his way to Australian wilds, and I think I have done my best to make him thoroughly at home iu un familiar surroundings. His wander-spirit was stimulated by luiuiuu magazine stones or tne spreau ing Australian prairie, and the untamed Australian cowboy. But the youth had a practical bent, and soon devoted him self to a more mature study of school geographies, which assessed -the popu lation of Australia at 100,000, 'chiefly aborigines,' and maps which referred to the interior of that continent vaguely as 'the desert.' From him I learned that Sydney was a town on the shores of Botany Buy, and the rest of Australia was nowhere to speak of (he politely called it terra in cognita, because his geography said so). He had been brought, up in a swell Grammar School; obviously it was a geo graphy class as well. H...

A 3Iy.sterit-«s Accident. j At 6.30 Wednesday morning (says the ' Chronicle') two shunters named Ha/.el and Shepperd while going ! about their work in the Lismoio j station yard found a man, whom they recognised as Porter Gilhert, lying unconscious Detween tne six toot ana four foot, a little to the north of tho platform. On Gilbert partly recov ering consciousness they took him to the staiion-master, but in reply to that officer the injured man could give no account of how he came to be where he was found. He seemed somewhat dazed, and accordingly the station master lielpt'd him along to the place where lie was boarding, wnicn is close to tne station. Alter some time his symptoms became such that it was considered advisable to -eaU in medical aid, a id Dr. Mall v was accordingly sent for. On his arrival he ordered Gilbert to be re moved to Dongraya ld llospita!, where lie was found to be suffering from a fracture of the back of the skull. The operation, or trepanning \n s ca.rrird ...

Doctor's Son Poses as a Woman. A man who, in all the glory of ? false hair and woman's frocks, woh the lieart of an unfortunate seliool^H teacher, became engaged to married to him, and finally commit^^H suicide, has, needless to say, cre^^^H a sensation in the town whe^^^^H piayea iub part, jlius was Ian, but the love affair j Paris — the city of love aifair^^^^^^H and of fools. The teacheifl^^^^^^H Paris to perfect himself in language. While there acquaintance of a lady Alma de Paradca. She a girl, but she was alto'^^H^^^^^fl ing, though looked daughter of a French -She wore magnificent Breslau tcnoher fell iu they were engaged, teacher returned hr IS resin u t(7i!ffi^BP preparations for their marriage. Dina Alma arrived at Bresl an shortly ?afterwards and took up her abode in a fashionable pmsionnat there. She went about with -ker finance making purchasf's for their future home. In somo' unexplained way, Irowever, the people of the persiinnat began to havo misgivings about Dina Al...

Starvation and Filth. SHOCKING CASE AT PERTH. ' At tho adjourned inquest touching the dcatli of the infant Ethel Booth, ?who died in the Perth Hospital, it was stated that Corporal O'Halloran visited the house of Mrs. Mitchell, in Edward-street, to make inquiries „ regarding the infant. The infant was frie'htfiillv emaciated, and not able to keep oif the flies which swarmed on its face1 Its clothes smelt offensively, and there was an offensive odour from the body. The same afternoon accompanied by Dr. Davey, he again went to Mitchell's house. Dr. Davey found that the child iva.c given insufficient nourish must for its existence, and it was simply dyiug from starvation. They isaw another child, which, if any thing, was oven in a worse condition. This was Ethel Booth, whose death Jormed the subject of this inquiry. 'There were swams of flies and the ?child was so terribly weak that it 'was not able to raise its hand to keep them off. There was an awful stench in the room, which was un...

Fleas a^ Carriers of the Plague. That a variety of flea is an active agent iu : disseminating bubonic ?plague has '.lately been discovered by - tho special plague commission ap ' pointed byj the Government of British India. The part played by rats in nun twig wwu understsood, but exactly how an epi ' domic is - disseminated among the rats and ! also communicated there from to. human beings it has been ' .left to the! commission to determine. ;It is still engaged in its investigation, ? but in 'the course of a short ivinterim'f report the commissioners .state that tho disease is conveyed from one rat to another and also to human beings by the parasite com monly known as the 'rat flea.' 'Says a writer in 'The Scientific American ' (New York, Dec. 29) : — . ' This hypothesis has been con firmed as the result of several ex ? periments. When plague-infested -' and healthy rats were incarcerated separately iu wire cages, thereby ? preventing them coming into contact ?with one another, the...

The Best that Money Can Buyy Stratford's Boots and Mercery. A long felt want supplied by us opening in the main streetf Murwillumbah, witli a large and carefully selected stock of Boots, Shoes, Hats, Collars, Ties. Shirts, Hosiery, and Suits to Measure. Our representative visits Mullumbimby and surrounning distsicts peri odically, with a full range o; samples. Wait for him and you will be suited Note the Address : - STRATFORD'S Tweed Boot Palace &amp; Mercery Establishment MURWILLUMBAH. B. G. WHITE, Stationer, Tobacconist and News Agent, - IViULLUfVIBHVIBY. Large stock of all kinds of Stationery, School Requisites, at Lowest Prices Best Accordoons and Concertinas in stock, at low prices. All the Latest Music and Songs Latest Fashion Journals. All tho leading city and local papers. Agent for Cavanough's (Lismore) Medicines. NOW IN FULL SWING! WHO? Why! ROSS WILMOT, Of Lismore, with his splendid stock of Stationery, Fancy Goods, School Material, Newspapers, (Sydnoy, Melbourne, Bri...

A RUSSIAN POGROM HOW IT IS ORGANISED. s 1 he details of n report on the Sedlilz | Pogrom furnished to the Government ' |l-y it gendarme officer named PyGtouk- 1 hoff havo leaked out. . On arrival in the town Colonel Tik-v lianovsky at once showed how lie In- j tended to deal with the revolutionaries. 'To the terrorism of the revolution it is our business to renlv' with creator | terrorism,' lie stated. | | Ills arrangements for conducting ; |: searches in the houses of tho iu t habitants were very complete. 'He | ordered the police-master,' I (St. I Petersburg correspondent of the 'Daily f News') quote from the official Govern I incut report, 'to have ready the fire I brigade during the house searching*, f . awl- to see that all the doctors were at [ . the hospitals. For his part lie promised r to see that the hospital ambulances r were In readiness. When asked why e these preparations were to bo made, he I replied that there might be killed and | wounded, because there would be no ...

ENGLISH GOLDFIELD. 'REEF 31 MILES LONG.' For some time past rumors have been alloat as to the. discovery of a gold-field in England within 200 miles of London. It has been stated in whispers that the . reef is thirty-one miles long, and pro- ' sents the same characteristics as a I Itaiui reef. All tho secrecy has boon attributed to the fact that those into- I rested have not .yet secured all tho op tions' over tho land required. \ - Of course, the rumors have been re garded as too good to be true; tliey have naturally been held in derision. It. is now possible to state, however, that-, a syndicate exists which firmly believes in the discovery, and _ a ? 'Daily Mail' representative managed fo find the chairman, who is a gcntlemnu of good standing in the city. This gentle man, while exceedingly reticent, de clared the facts of .the .gold field, as just stated, to be correct. Tho policy of, tho directors of the syn dicate, the chairman explained, is to keep the whereabouts of the reef ...

DOCTOR AS ART CRITIC. PICTURES, FROM A MEDICAL POINT OF VIEW. Dr. Leonard Mark, in an interesting pappr on art and medicine in a recent issue of 'the 'Lancet,' criticises some well-known masterpieces in this coun try in which the artist has dealt with medical subjects. St. Sebastian, whose body is always represented tied to a stake and pierced with arrows, is one of the most interest ing subjects, from the medical point of view. , 'In our National Gallery,' says. Dr. Mark, 'I have counted eight pictures in which he finds a place, and I have been much interested in studying the various ways in which the arrows havo been de picted penetrating his flesh. 'Some of the methods adopted are purely conventional. In one of them six or seven arrows are drawn exactly alike, and under each one is painted a group of five drops of blood, which, one cannot help remarking, look like n small bunch of currants hanging from- the ar row. 'Apart from the medical question,, some of these artists have sho...

CONSCIENCE-STRICKEN. A pathetic Christmas., drama? was enacted at the licrlin ; police -head- : quarters (says . Uio correspondent of ; the ' Daily Mail'); when the dojcct ed and half-frozen figure : of . a , man' wandered in and. asked to bo taken into custody :for. : the murder, of.i his1' mother eleven months -ago;- ? :? When the police ' had satisfied them selves that they were not dealing with a lunatic or a drunkard, they listened to the nian's story, and next day reached tho conclusion that he is really a penitent. The conscience-stricken wretch, who could find no peace for his soul until ho had made' his awful confession, is a man who was for twenty-fivo years a saddler. He declares that he poisoned his mother with carbolic acid on the night of 24th January, 1906, and the Coroner's record shows that a woman was actually ? found dead that day from unknown causes. Sincc thon, the son declares, lie has wandered pretty much all over Europe, living tho lifo of an - itiner ant .wo...

PEACE CONFERENCE. (i; .... 'PARLIAMENT OF MAN.' ADDRESS BY MR W. T. STEAD. 'A rotten programme!' That is Mr W. T. Stead's forceful description of the official proposals for The Hague Conference of next year. Characteris tically, therefore, Mr Stead has set about to secure alterations, and from the pulpit of Westbourne Park Chapel, on the 2Sth December (says tho 'Dajly News') ho enunciated a more progres sive programme of ills own. i 'We have to make this conference,' ho said, 'a worthy successor to the first Hague Conference, which did at least lay down the law in a series of recom- 1 inondations. I 'Instead of 10 Powers, ns at the Hague Conference of 1800 , there will bo -10 next year. Every organised ?State in, the world, excepting the negro Republic of Liberia, has been invited to send delegates to The Hague. There never was a time in the history of the world in which such a great Parlia ment of men assembled together as that which will assemble next year. It Is a great opportuni...

The Tick. THE OUTBREAK OF RED WATER. The Brisbane Daily Mail says : — A very serious situation faces the dairying and pastoral industries in Southern Queensland at tho prescufe time, there being every ?lik^ftiood of serious losses fropr rcu'water in the near future. the milking herds at Dandsboi^Pgh and other districts, on the Iforth Coast line numerous deaths ' have already oc curred, while -at Cooper's Plains and in the Kuuaby district the trouble has got/ a firm hold. Those in the best, -position to correctly estimate the danger regard the matter as most serious. So far nothing in the way of concerted action has been taken in the matter by dairymen, who are apparently awaiting action by the Government instead of bestirring themselves to cope with the matter.